Welcome back Vince you have been missed! As you can see the Peanut Gallery has been patiently waiting! Since you and a number of the others here are such good builders before you get started I would like to pick everyone's collective brain. I got the Caddell Bonanza short kit w/ plans in the mail Friday I had recently ordered, yeah I know I need another project like a hole in the head. She is a little larger than the Top Flite kit at a 86" wingspan but the investment was not even close to what the TF kit goes for now. It looks good but the airplane seems to have grown since I saw the .pdf of the plans!
My next hurdle is determining the correct retracts to use, it was design for the old Rohm retracts and the nose wheel was designed to stick up at a strange angle.
I could use some ideas on what to use. I love the way he designed the nose doors to close using the wheel to level them shut.
I think the Robart TF Bonanza gear will work for the most part but I can't decide if I would be better substituting the 646HDRS nose gear that will belly or firewall mount for the stock 630 nose gear. Attached is everything the plans show along with the Robart Drawing showing both nose gears. Robart will substitute the 646 nose gear for the 630 nose gear for $25 its worth it if it will help. This gear is built on demand so I'm looking at 4 to 6 weeks whichever way I go. The plans are a little fuzzy in mount the nose gear and no parts drawing were included in the plans so the laser cutter didn't cut any parts. I can't blame Limey Bob for that.
Like I said before we got some great builders in this thread so would anyone care to make a suggestions, the more the merrier? I'll do a build when I get started but for now I want to work thru this detail. The recommended engine is a .90 to 1.20 two cycle with the designer saying it flies like a big trainer. I got that from the old magazine article Bob posted with the plans .pdf and I take those articles with a grain of salt. The engine selection is dependent on the nose wheel installation because the gear sets so far forward. Please see the attachments.
Mike
